Questions tagged [history]
For questions about how music has developed and changed over time or for questions about concepts and ideas of a historic period of music. Do not use just because the subject of the question is a historic figure or piece.
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Who first labelled the collection of Bach's 18 Chorale Preludes for organ (BWV 651–668) as "Great" and why?
Who first labelled the collection of Bach's 18 Chorale Preludes for organ (BWV 651–668) as "Great" and why?
Is it "Great" because of the epic scale" in contrast with the &...
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Why is music with African roots different in North America than in South America?
Hello fellow musicians of the world. My question is primarily a historical one. As an admirer of both Latin music and blues/jazz, I always wonder why United States music with African roots isn't as ...
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What were Plato's main ideas on musical aesthetics?
Plato, one of our Western philosophical fathers, turns out to be a music critic even in his dying moments criticizing a flute music performance he enjoyed in his last evening!
A passage deciphered ...
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What is the air path in a rackett?
There's plenty of videos and online descriptions of these, but: where does the air come out?
As an example,
shows racketts with the reed in the centre of the top, but ...
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How were the hole positions determined on a recorder, and how were the fingerings invented?
I recently obtained an inexpensive plastic recorder and am amazed that it’s possible to play a chromatic scale on it across two octaves. Many of the fingerings seem magical to me - as in, how did ...
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History of "white keys" and "black keys" as idiom
When explaining music theory in layman's terms, it's common to refer to "white keys" and "black keys" and take for granted that everyone knows what a piano looks like.
But ...
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What is the earliest use of the note F#?
I came across Richard Taruskin's transcription of Verbum Patris humanatur, a 12th century conductus in three parts, in The Oxford History of Western Music, Vol. I. In it, he uses a ficta # above some ...
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Black and white keyboard keys
I've often wondered why there needs to be a different colour in the keys on pianos, organs and keyboards. After all, their location and shape differentiates them regardless. I can understand the need ...
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What is the minimum pedal keyboard compass needed to play ALL of J.S. Bach's pipe organ music?
Simple straightforward question: What is the minimum pedal keyboard range needed to play ALL of J.S. Bach's pipe organ music?
Optional ways to embellish the answer:
Did Bach ever write a piece for ...
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Was this chord substitution chart part of a larger harmony system?
I recently rediscovered in my files several photocopied sheets of chords similar to the one below.
A friend (deceased in 2014) gave them to me many years ago.
There are a total of 11, covering keys ...
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When did the oboe wind up being the standard to tune other instruments in an ensemble / orchestra?
As a follow up to the question why does the orchestra tune to the oboe, I'm asking since when this became standard practice? For example, was it since the Modern oboe, or already since the Classical ...
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When was music notation first used? [duplicate]
When was the first time someone wrote music in the way we use it today (on a stave)? Was this the first way people ever wrote music or did they do something else before that? (such as just writing the ...
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What happened to Jazz in 1980?
In this great interview by Rick Beato (around 01:13h) Pat Metheny says that in 1980 something happened - "we all know what it was" - and young musicians suddenly started to play for their ...
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In terms of range, what does "eingestrichen" refer to?
I'm trying to read an old handwritten German document from 1835 which describes the range of the newly invented tuba.
It says:
die Bass-Tuba hingegen 4 reine Octaven durch die chromatische Scala, ...
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What is the origin of this stock phrase to end a piece in a humorous way? [duplicate]
This phrase is often used for comedic effect:
The melody is characterized by the movement in half steps around the dominant. But it is recognizable by its rhythm alone.
For example, it is used by ...
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